Sighting apparatus for guns.



No. 794,649. PATBNTBD JULY 11, 1905. E.. TERNSTRM.

SIGHTING APPARATUS POR GUNS.

122111011511011 HLED 11110.19, 1904.

FICI; 31..

UNITED STATES Patented July 11, 1905.

' ATENT @Finca SIGHTING APPARATUS FOR GUNS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 794,649, dated July 11, 1905.

Application iled December 19, 1904. Serial No. 237,534.

T all whom, t 711/614./ concern,.-

Be it known that I, ERNST TERNSTRM, engineer, a subject of the King of Sweden and Norway, residing at 50 Quai des Carmes, Jemeppe sur Meuse, Belgium, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Sighting Apparatus for Guns, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a sighting mechanism for guns so iitted that the line of sight may be rendered fixed at will or independent with respect to the piece of ordnance and also that the corrections required on account of the inclination of the axle-that is to say, of the trunnions-of the gun may be made.

The said sighting mechanism comprises an adjusting-segment, the plane of which is parallel to the axis of the gun and which is vmounted on a hinge parallel to the said axis,

so that the said segment can be set up straight or more or less inclined, but is forced to follow the movements of the gun when inclining one way or the other around its trunnions on taking a higher or lower sight. The said adjusting-segment carries on a stud or hub perpendicular to its plane a guiding-segment, which is thus held in a plane parallel to its own and which is connected to the guncarriage byl a guideway extending in a plane passing through the axial line of the trunnions of the gun, so that the said segment can swing with the adj usting-segment around the same hinge parallel to the axis of the gun, but cannot follow, like the last-named segment, the inclining movements of the piece of ordnance around its trunnions. The

sighting mechanism also comprises an ad-` justing device, which allows of the segments being swung around their common hinge parallel to the axis of the gun and of locking the same in any desired position. On the same stud or hub perpendicular to the plane of the segments a bracket is capable of turning and which carries a sighting device having a sight-hole or other sighting device, the line of sight of which lies normally in a plane parallel to that of the segments and can be more or less inclined with respect to the axis of the gun. The same bracket is provided with two levels which allow of measuring the of direction.

inclination of the line of sight and that of the common stud carrying the guiding-segment and the said bracket. A suitable ixing device allows of causing the line-of-sight bracket to coperate with either of the two segments at will. By the combination of these arrangements the segments can be maintained in a plane which is always vertical and parallel to the axis of the piece of ordnance, and it becomes possible to point or train the gun on the butt and to modify its inclination according to the range to be reached without the line of sight leaving the butt.

The sighting mechanism may also be provided with a goniometer to show the errors In the accompanying drawings, showing, by way of example, one form in which this invention can be carried out, Figure 1 is a vertical section on the axial line of the trunnions of a gun. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the training mechanism. Fig. 3 is a horizontal section on the line A B of Fig. 2.

In the form shown in the drawings the sightsupporting mechanism comprises an adjusting-segment 1, mounted on a hinge 2, the axis of which is placed parallel to the axis of the piece of ordnance 3 on an extension 4 of one of the trunnions 5 of the latter. The segment 1 is provided with a hub 6, around which is loosely mounted a guiding-segment 7 and a bracket S, bent in shape and which carries a glass 9, determining the line of sight, as well as two levels 10 and 11, placed the one parallel to the axis of the hub 6 and the other perpendicular to the same. -The segment 7 is provided with an extension 12, which is guided, by means of a slide 13, in a slideway 14, extending in a plane passing through the axial line of the trunnions 5, the said slideway being fixed to the cradle or frame 15. On the slide 13 and the slideway 14 are pivotally mounted two nuts 17, in which passes a screw 18, having threads arranged in contrary directions. When the said screw is turned one way or the other, the nuts are caused to move nearer to or farther away the one from the other, and the segments 1 7, as well as the bracket 8, are caused to swing around their common hinge 2.-

IOO I -the bracket 8, which is held vertica A screw 19, passing loosely through slots or slideways of the segments 1 7, is screwed in the bracket 8 and carries two washers 20 and 21 by the aid of which either the segment 1 or the segment 7 can be clamped against the said bracket, according to whether the screw is turned one way or the other.

At the periphery of the segment 1 are graduations along which moves an indicator 22, ixed to the bracket 8, to indicate the inclination of the cannon with respect to the line of sight.

The way to use the present device is as follows: To begin, by means of the screw 19 the line of sight and the segment 1 are set together. Then the pointing-screw is acted upon so as to move'the gun until the line of sight passes through butt. The line of sight is iixed to the segment 7. Then the pointingscrew is so acted upon as to give the gun the required angle for iiring in reading 0H the adjustment on the segment 1. Finally, the influence of the inclination of the axle is corrected by turning the screw until the level 1 1 shows the horizontal position, after which the pointing-screw of the gun is again acted upon to bring the line of sight on the butt. If it be considered that the slideway 14 lies in a vertical plane with the trunnions of the gun, and consequently with the swinging center O of the bracket 1 7 8, it will be understood that in acting on the screw 18 the axial line passing through the pin 12 and the said swinging center O was brought into a vertical direction, the result being that if the direction of the gun is afterward changed the plane of by the slideway 14, the screw 18, and the nuts 17, must turn around the axial line 12 O to follow the change in direction of the axial line of thev hinge 2, which still remains parallel to the gun. Conse uently the vertical plane passing through the racket 8-that is, the line of sightis then parallel to the vertical plane passing through the axial line of the gun and remains parallel afterward on the direction of the gun being modified.

As herein shown, the intersection O of the axial line of the hub 6 and of the axial line of the hinge 2 lies on the axial line of the trunnions 5; but the said intersection may lie quite as well at any distance from the axial line of the trunnions, provided that the hinge 2 shall still be parallel to the axial line of the gun and that the segment 7 shall still be suitably guided with respect to the gun-carriage. On the other hand, in the form of the invention represented in the drawings the cradle or frame 15 is shown as being ivotally connected to the gun-carriage 23 y means of a vertical ivot 24. The sighting mechanism describe can be applied quite as well to a piece of ordnance in which the trunnions of the gun are mounted directly on the guncarriage. The slideway 14 is then fixed to the gun-carriage. Likewise it can be applied in the case where the gun is slidably mounted on a cradle which is itselil connected to the guncarriage by the trunnions, in which case the sighting mechanism is connected to one of the trunnions of the cradle or frame and the slideway 14 is connected to the gun-carriage. In every case it is necessary that the plane passing through'the axial line of the slideway 14 and the axial line of the hub 6 shall be vertical if it is desired to obtain a strict correction of the inclination of the axle. This result is only reached by a certain position of the gun on inclined ground when the slideway 14 is invariably iixed to the guncarriage; but a strict compensation may be obtained in all positions by fixing the said slideway adjustable on the' gun-carria e, so as to be able to place the said slideway p umb under the hub 6.

I claim- 1. A sighting mechanism for guns comprising a hinge adapted to be connected to a piece of ordnance parallelly toits axial line, a hub ivoted to the said hinge and having its axia line perpendicular to that of the said hinge, a bracket pivoted to the said hub and adapted to carry a line of sight, an adjustingsegment cooperating with the hub, a guidingsegment loosely mounted on the said hub, means to connect alternatively the said bracket to the said segments, means to guide y the last-named segment in a determined direction, and means to lock the said guidingsegment along the said direction.

2. Asighting mechanism for guns comprising a hinge adapted to be connected to a piece of ordnance parallelly to its axial line, a hub ivoted to the said hinge and having its axia line perpendicular to the latter, a bracket on the said hub and adapted to carry a line of sight, a guiding-segment on the said hub, a slideway or slot adapted to be ixed on the gun-carriage, an extension of the said segment guided in the said slideway or slot, and a device to adjust the said extension in the slideway or slot.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention I have signed my name in pres- Witnesses H. SAVAGE, E. TRIEsTA.

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